Stir It Up! » Blog

So I’m still working on my list for our big Christmas eve dinner list, but think I’m getting closer.  Last night I made some steak and green beans for the kids. By the way, if anyone says eating this way is just too hard, or too expensive, show them this post. I bought a pack of 2 Publix Greenwise (no hormones & raised w/o antibiotics) Sirloin steaks for $6.60!  Beat that cheap (and nasty) fast food!!  And it was a really nice cut of meat! And, no, it wasn’t grass fed, which is always a nice goal, but not always possible.  We do eat the grass-fed meat a large majority of the time, but you have do to what works, and for me, yesterday, Publix was what worked.

Anyway, I threw the steaks in my new cast iron skillet (which I am absolutely loving btw), added some grass fed Kerrygold butter (since the meat was very lean), some celtic salt, and pepper and that was it. I have to admit, I think this was the first time I’ve EVER cooked a steak (I always left it to my husband and the big green egg), and it was so easy! With the skillet, you turn it on high, then put the meat in, let cook 2 minutes each side, then cook on low until desired temperature. And look how much steak we had for under $7!  Actually, now that I see the picture below, it doesn’t look like that much, but it was plenty!

Anyway, back to Christmas eve dinner, I also made some green beans in about 5 minutes and they were delicious! I added 1 tbsp of Kerrygold butter, about 1/2 tsp salt, and pepper and the green beans. Let them cook for about 10 minutes. Then added in slivered almonds (pinenuts would work well too) and some (no sugar added) Eden cranberries, cooked about 3 more minutes and that was it!

By the way, I wanted to mention that I finally figured out how to send you email updates when I add a new post. I’m so excited, and proud of myself, because it was a technical project, and as my husband knows, I am not technical, and even worse,  I’m terrible at following directions.   Anyway, you can now get email updates by subscribing at the top of my menu bar (“get email updates”), or at the very bottom my my blog (“enter in email”).  Either way, once you enter in your email, you will receive an email confirmation that you’ll have to click on once to get set up, but then that’s it.  I hope you find this useful!

And with it rapidly approaching, I thought I better start testing out some things I’m going to make for Christmas eve dinner and these Mini Chocolate Mousse Cups were one of them. If you wanted to use this filling, see here for the pie crust recipe. Together, it is heaven!

So with these, I was really unsure of what I was doing, and honestly, after it was done, I thought no one was going to want one. Apparently I was completely wrong.  My husband, being the chocolate lover that he is, said this was “the best thing I’ve ever made….bar none”.  I personally still love the chocolate chip cookies and almond joy bars, but that’s just me. Anyway, as I was trying to photograph this dessert, after letting the kids eat it, and well, that was a mistake.  I asked Alice to hold it and couldn’t get her to back away enough.  She doesn’t always love my sweet baked goods but I couldnt’ keep her away from this, literally.

Anyway, I think I will thicken it with arrowroot next time, with  maybe 2 tablespoons, but couldn’t find any at my Whole Foods.  I will get some for Christmas for sure so will let you know if I make this again.  It was a little more labor intensive than what I am use to, but it could be just because I had never made anything like this before.  I think next time, and with the arrowroot, it will be much easier.  Updated 12.19: I just found some Bob’s Mill Arrowroot Powder at Publix. Yay for Publix!  I really didn’t want to have to drive across town to another Whole Foods.  Oh and they also had their Kerrygold Butter on sale!

Here’s what you need:

• 2 cups dark chocolate chips (I used Ghardelli’s 60% cacao instead of WF’s 70% this time)
• 6 eggs, separated
• 2 tbsp maple
• ¼ teaspoon Celtic sea salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tbls coconut milk
• 1 tbsp coconut flour (or 2 tbsp arrowroot powder)
• Optional: almonds (roasted), blueberries, or crumbed gluten free graham crackers (1 tsp on each)

Here's how to do it:

1. Preheat oven to 300
2. In a small pot, melt chocolate over very low heat; remove from heat
3. In a medium bowl, beat egg yolks with maple for 1 minute with a hand blender
4. In a large bowl, beat egg whites and flour (or arrrowroot powder) with a handheld blender until stiff peaks form
5. Stir egg yolk mixture into pot of warm chocolate
6. Mix chocolate and yolks until combined; mixture will be slightly thickened
7. Stir salt into chocolate mixture
8. Mix egg whites into chocolate mixture (it may seem too thin at first but keep stirring)
9. Use ladle to put into cupcake holders. Makes about 6 cups.
10. Cook for 5-8 minutes on 300. 
11. Then transfer to refrigerator (put down kitchen down first) for 3 hours.

Notice the hand sneaking in the bowl.

If you couldn’t tell already, this was a little messy, even for Tate’s standards.  Straight to the tub for both of them!